


Young and in Love

by neoinmyzone



Category: NCT (Band), We Go Up - NCT Dream (Music Video)
Genre: Childhood Friends, Friends to Lovers, Jealousy, Kissing, Light Angst, M/M, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-18
Updated: 2020-04-27
Packaged: 2021-03-01 01:13:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,059
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23196871
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/neoinmyzone/pseuds/neoinmyzone
Summary: Jisung couldn’t make up his mind and Chenle got tired of waiting. One day a certain boy with a  sweet laugh and the most beautiful eye smile came into Chenle’s life and whisked him away. Now, Jisung regrets not going after him soon.
Relationships: Park Jisung & Zhong Chen Le, Park Jisung/Zhong Chen Le
Comments: 7
Kudos: 58





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> The lack of Chenji fics out here is illegal! I'm not a writer but I got frustrated by the lack of chenji fics and AUs out here so I decided to start writing my own. Pls support and all criticisms are welcome !!

At eight years old, Jisung met him. 

Jisung’s dance studio was set to do a dance performance all the way in China. Only the best of the best get chosen to perform and Jisung was one of them. 

They dressed him up in a makeshift lion costume and told him to play around with the other performers. There he met this Chinese boy. It was clear that he was in a league above the others. Unlike the rest of them, he actually had lines and singing parts in the performance. And his voice? It was downright the most beautiful sound sung has ever heard. 

The performance ended as fast as it began and before he knew it Jisung found himself being rushed back to the airport to their flight back home. On the way home the memories of the Chinese boy with a beautiful voice lingered in his mind. 

At fourteen years old they found each other. 

Years later Jisung realized he belonged on stage and auditioned for SM Entertainment. One day during practice their manager Hyung stopped the boys to introduce them to a new trainee. And there at the doorway, he stood. The sweet Chinese boy with the angelic voice and the most beautiful smile. Jisung couldn’t believe his eyes that the very boy back in China would be right here in front of him. 

Since Jisung joined the company so young and started training early He didn’t have that many friends. When children his age would go out and play after school he would go straight to the company to practice. Though he got along with all his older Hyungs and fellow trainees he often felt lonely being left out by his classmates and peers. 

Until Chenle came along. Despite the very obvious language barrier those two always made it work somehow. Whether it was Chenle speaking in his very limited Korean or Jisung speaking in broken Chinese. 

Nowadays, Jisung would always joke to the interviewers that it was like fate, like destiny that they would meet again and debut in the same group whenever they brought it up. 

Since then, it’s like they were practically joint at the hip. Those two were a nightmare for the older members. Their hyungs nicknamed them ‘Dumb & Dumber’ cause of their constant fighting and pranks. They were practically seen as a set. Wherever Jisung goes Chenle would follow. They’re their hyungs biggest headaches.

At sixteen years old, chenle confessed to him. 

It was on another one of their late-night adventures. Where they’d sneak out the dorm and walk around the Han river while staring at the stars. At those moments they could act like they were the only ones in the world. Where they didn’t have responsibilities, they didn’t have to worry about fans or the agency. It was just them. Together. In their own little world. Where they can talk and joke about anything and everything. 

That night they were having another one of their stupid meaningless arguments. 

“You like the 127 hyungs more than our own group!”

“They have Mark Hyung AND Taeyong Hyung! They’re the perfect group!”

“and we aren't???”

“Shut up you overgrown brat I’m older than you!”

“Yeah by like two months,” He scoffed, “get over yourself.”

And Chenle belted out that irritating high pitched laugh that jisung made fun of every time. Jisung couldn’t fight off the smile that crept on his face. He would never tell, but he secretly loved the way he laughs. He loves the way Chenle’s face scrunches up or the way his laughs racks through his whole body.

The moon shone brightly above them giving Chenle in front of him a slight glow making him look all the more like the prince nickname his fans keep calling him. It was quiet nothing but the sound of the constant chirping of cicadas and the flow of the river surrounding them. 

“Do you remember when we first met?” Chenle mentioned suddenly breaking the peaceful silence. 

“You mean when we performed together when we were like eight?” I teased, raising an eyebrow at him. Where is he going with this? 

“No, not that you idiot! I meant like when we met in the company!” He squealed, hitting me square on the back. Slightly cringing at the memory of their child performance. 

“ahh, you barely knew any Korean back then.”

“Yeah it's so funny I would look back at the old VCR and every time I show up on the screen all I would ever say is ‘annyeonghaseyo’ because at the time that was like the only word I knew in Korean.” He sighed, with a bittersweet smile adorning his face as he recalled the memory. “You know what when I first joined I was worried I wouldn’t fit in. That I wouldn’t get along with you guys.”

“Why?” He asked hesitantly. The older hyungs ADORED Chenle. He saw the way their eyes would soften whenever Chenle walked into the room. He couldn’t fathom it in his head that Chenle ever felt like he didn’t get along with the group. 

“Because you guys were so close you were an already established group. You guys trained together lived together, you guys were even on SM Rookies together! and I was just that outsider that came in late and couldn’t even speak your language.” 

Jisung was never the best at expressing his feelings. He wants to say how Chenle made him feel like he had a friend in the group. How Chenle made him feel less lonely and more at home. He was about to open his mouth to say that to him but Chenle beat him to it. 

“But then you came around and you tried talking to me, in very broken Chinese mind you, you’re Chinese back then was awful!”

“Hey, at least I tried!”

“I guess it’s cheesy but you’re one of the people that made feel like I belonged.” Then He gave me that toothy grin and at this moment Chenle looked so beautiful his chest ached with a feeling he wasn’t familiar with. 

But then his smile fell away and Chenle turned to me. With a slight frown on his face and an uncertain look in his eyes. 

“There’s something I have to tell you, Jisung.” He looked unsure for a moment he fidgeted in his seat looking somewhat nervous. 

“What is it?” 

“I love you.” He said finally with determination in his eyes, “ And I don’t mean this like I love you as a friend. I love you, Park Jisung.”

Jisung was at a loss for words. 

“I’m not rushing you or anything !!” He quickly followed up losing some of the confidence he had earlier after seeing Jisung’s hesitation. ”You don’t have to give me an answer right away. I just- I just thought you deserved to know.”

He was young and didn’t know what he wanted. So jisung did what he did best. He avoided it. Deep in his head, he knew doing that wouldn’t solve anything but he loved their friendship and cherished it more than anything in the world and he was so scared of tearing what they have now so he just avoided it. They walked back to the dorms in silence. 

It was the longest five-minute walk in his life.


	2. Seventeen.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Okay so maybe they aren’t the conventional kinda friend. Maybe they were so much more but were tethering between the boundaries too afraid to cross that line. At one point in their friendship, Jisung realized the feelings he held for Chenle was so much more than just that of friends.

At seventeen years old, something changed.

He knew Chenle more than he knew himself and he realized it even before the Chinese boy did. He saw it in the way Chenle’s eyes would follow the boy wherever he’d go, or the way he’d light up whenever Jeno walked in the room. He was infatuated with Jeno, more than that. In fact, he looked at Jeno as if the boy himself hung up the moon and all the stars in the sky.

Jisung and Chenle always had this conventional kinda friendship. They’re the kinda friends that movies dedicate stories to. The kinda friends who have spontaneous late-night sleepovers where they talk about anything and everything at once the type to whisper sweet secrets at the dead of night and reveal their rawest selves towards one another. The type of friendship that makes homes out of each other’s family and take residence in every crevice of each other's hearts. To Jisung going to Chenle is as easy as breathing. Their hands find each other like the most natural thing in the world. They gravitate towards each other finding comfort in each other’s warmth.

Okay so maybe they aren’t the conventional kinda friend. Maybe they were so much more but were tethering between the boundaries too afraid to cross that line. At one point in their friendship, Jisung realized the feelings he held for Chenle was so much more than just that of friends. So it hurt all the more when Chenle bounced up to him one day during practice with excitement in his steps and the brightest smile on his face. Jisung just knew what it was going to be about before he even opened his mouth.

Nowadays nothing else gets Chenle more excited than a certain Hyung of theirs.

“Sungie!” Chenle squealed in the annoyingly endearing high toned voice of his, “Jeno-Hyung looked so cool in the new choreo! His acrobatic move was just- !!”

Chenle then went on a tangent going on and on about _Jeno this_ and _Jeno that_ until the person in question came in the room and Chenle quickly bounced up and rushed to his side the moment he walked in the room, leaving Jisung alone.

Seeing them together left a burning in his chest so intense he couldn’t breathe. But being with Jeno made Chenle so happy and he couldn’t bear to see him upset. He couldn’t just ruin their relationship and their friendship just because he realized the feelings he had for Chenle too late. So he stayed silent. He played the fool, the supportive friend for Chenle. Until one day he just couldn’t take it anymore.

“Why do you keep doing this to yourself Jisung?” Renjun told him with frustration on the tip of his tongue when Jisung came running to him yet again bemoaning about his broken heart.

“He’s right, baby” Jaemin agreed, patting Jisung’s head on his lap him gently “You’re just gonna keep hurting yourself this way.”

“What can I do?” He sniffles a little bit “It’s not like I can just get in between the two of them” his voice muffled slightly by the pillow he was clinging to.

Renjun and Jaemin shared a knowing look.

“It isn’t fair to you or him if you keep this all to yourself, Jisung” Renjun chastised him in such a Renjun fashion with clear cut logic and empathy in his reasons. Jisung turned away and kept silent but he can’t deny that Renjun was right.

"You need to be honest and tell him how you feel or nothings gonna change" He continued on persistently but in a more gentler manner like he really wants to get through to Jisung but knows he's in a sensitive state.

and it did go through to jisung and stuck with him and left him thinking about his situation for the rest of the day. He knew in his heart of hearts that he couldn't keep going on like this forever and needs to handle it eventually. Jisung just doesn't know how to go about it and okay, he admits, he is scared. What would it do for their friendship? What if ruins their whole dynamic? Jisung tried to imagine a world where he and Chenle didn't talk and find each other as effortlessly as they do now and Jisung did not like what he was imagining.

Jisung cannot handle a world without Chenle. He just _can't_.

That night when his head crashed into the soft surface of his pillow Jisung thought back to Chenle and the way he has this unmistaken pull to him that leaves everyone surrounding him enthralled in his wake or how he has this softness to him that never goes away no matter how much he ages and wondered if Jeno sees Chenle the way he does. If Jeno loved him as much as he did, if anyone can love Chenle the way jisung can. There it is, he thought, the dreaded L-word. Jisung buried himself deeper into his cushions and groaned.

He’s really got it bad. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I swear the next chapter would be on a lighter note!! 
> 
> If you enjoyed the chapter follow my social media accs or leave a comment on my cc if you have any criticisms!!  
> Twitter: @skzenss  
> Curious Cat: @skzenss

**Author's Note:**

> There's a happy ending to this I swear but before it gets better it gets worse pls be a little patient huhu. T^T
> 
> Follow my Twitter for updates or my CC for comments!!  
> Twitter: @skzenss  
> Curious Cat: @skzenss


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